JDHS girls win big over Chugiak for Capital City Classic championship

The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears girls defeated the Chugiak Mustangs 51-38 Sunday to win the George Houston Capital City Classic girls championship inside their home gymnasium.

“I just think it was a lot of hard work, and we deserve that win,” JDHS junior Cambry Lockhart said. “It wasn’t too hard, it wasn’t too easy, so I think it was a great win for the team.”

JDHS found out early how hard Chugiak would play in a physical game.

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CAPITAL CITY CLASSIC COVERAGE:

Day 1: Chugiak girls run past Kenai | Federal Way gets past Soldotna 63-40 | 4A Crimson Bears girls topple 1A Chieftains | JDHS boys beat Cordova

Day 2: Chugiak girls defeat Klawock | Federal Way wins against Cordova | 4A Crimson Bears girls topple 3A Cardinals | JDHS boys battle in extra time with Soldotna

Day 3: Kenai girls defeat Klawock for third place | Soldotna topples Cordova in overtime

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Crimson Bears senior Kerra Baxter put in the first two championship points on a pair of free throws, and Chugiak sophomore Natalie Horn responded with a steal and pass to junior Petra Knox to tie the game.

Baxter would add another free throw and then Horn went on a tear with three quick baskets, one from past the arc, for a 9-3 lead and forcing JDHS to call timeout.

JDHS junior Gwen Nizich came out of the rest with a shot from past the arc and after a Chugiak free throw, JDHS senior Addison Wilson stole the ball and fed Nizich who scored inside to trail 10-8.

Chugiak’s Knox hit again, but senior Cailynn Baxter put in a shot to close to 12-10 after eight minutes.

Both teams would score seven points in the second quarter, with K. Baxter gathering a blocked shot, C. Baxter three rebounds and Nizich her third shot past the arc.

Chugiak took a 19-17 lead into halftime, but a reinvigorated JDHS team came out of the break and went on an 11-0 run for a 28-19 lead with 4:11 remaining in the stanza.

In the splurge, C. Baxter scored, Nizich hit back-to-back shots past the arc, and Lockhart and Layla Tokuoka had free throws.

“I think that after halftime we came out with double the intensity, double the hustle, double the rebounding,” Nizich said. “All of which was lacking in the first half, and we were reversing the ball a lot more with allowed for our inside-outside game and available shots.”

Chugiak freshman Kaitlyn Farr stopped the run with a basket inside, but C. Baxter scored two buckets in a row, one on a follow-up shot, to push the lead to 32-21.

A key defensive play came in that run as well, with Lockhart drawing an offensive foul against the Mustangs’ Horn driving into the lane.

“I was kind of in the wing and we have been talking about helping the helper, like a lot of rotation on defense,” Lockhart said. “I saw her coming in and she is a great player, she’s got a good inside game and I stepped in. I was in the perfect spot. I kind of just put my hand up and thought, ‘Well, I’m in the right spot and if I draw this it will get exciting.’ And I just did it.”

Baskets by the the Mustangs’ Horn and sophomore Ronnie Garrett cut it to 32-26, but C. Baxter hit two free throws, stole a ball and scored for the 36-26 lead as the quarter ended.

The Crimson Bears started the final eight minutes with a 13-1 run. Nizich led off with a pair of free throws and a basket, Lockhart scored, K. Baxter hit a shot inside and one past the arc, and then did a euro-step for the 49-27 lead with under three minutes remaining.

In that run, Crimson Bears sophomore Layla Tokuoka drew the fourth foul on Mustangs’ star Horn, again sliding into the lane to take a charge after senior Addison Wilson steered Horn into the key.

“I feel like our communication on defense was key,” JDHS’ Wilson said. “A lot of us were helping and together. We were all in the key. If someone were to drive we were there. Like, Cambry or Layla was there to help.”

During warmups, Wilson said her mindset was “communicating on defense and being there for my teammates if they get beat on the layups, be there for them.”

Chugiak made a charge with two minutes remaining as Knox hit a shot past the arc, Horn did the same and then scored on a layup and Knox tallied another shot from deep to close the margin back to 49-38.

With just 10 seconds remaining to play, Nizich hit a shot for the 51-38 final.

“Chugiak’s a great team,” Nizich said. “They came out with intensity, and I was just excited that we all could work together and kind of just gather ourselves at halftime and come out with extra charge.”

Nizich led JDHS with 20 points, K. Baxter added 16, C. Baxter 10, Lockhart four and Tokuoka one.

The Crimson Bears hit 10-19 at the charity stripe.

“I was super happy,” JDHS coach Tanya Nizich said. “We were talking about it in the locker room after the game, super happy with how we came out the second half. We talked about some things at halftime and they applied everything that we talked about, and it was a totally different first half to second half. So I applaud them for paying attention and working hard to do those things we talked about…For starters, more intensity, blocking out and rebounding. We struggled with that in the first half, and executing plays. And then quick on the fly we just drew up some things and they had no problem running them whatsoever, it was a pretty smooth second half.”

Horn led Chugiak with 16 points, Knox added 11, Farr seven, and senior Sadie Bell and Garrett two apiece. The Mustangs went 2-4 at the charity stripe.

“This is just a great experience for us to come down to Juneau in a great basketball community and get to play in front of amazing fans,” Chugiak coach Charlie Schultz said. “I think it was just a lot of fun for us, and the kids got to play in a high-stakes environment that we are going to need down the road. There is no other place like this that we play. We told the girls that this is a special place to play basketball. The community is really involved, and the pep band. It is all a community thing and that is really exciting for us to come play in.”

K. Baxter was selected the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

“That’s pretty exciting,” she said. “Just happy that they noticed, I guess, because it is a team award to some extent and I got to get assists and I love that. We will definitely have good competition up north and don’t go up there until state but we are excited. We are going to prepare for sure.”

The All-Tournament Team were JDHS’ K. Baxter, Nizich, Tukuoka and C. Baxter; Chugiak’s Horn and Farr, Kenai junior Ellsi Miller and Klawock senior Lea Armour.

Awards were also given for Friday’s shooting contests and JDHS’ Lockhart won the Free Throw Contest and Chugiak’s Horn the Three-Point Contest.

Girls Tournament Scores:

FRIDAY: Chugiak 43, Kenai 34; JDHS 71, Klawock 21.

SATURDAY: Chugiak 45, Klawock 25; JDHS 57, Kenai 13.

SUNDAY: Kenai 47, Klawock 25; JDHS 51, Chugiak 38.

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.